Library Commissioner Arthur Plourde Targeted for Dismissal

The agenda for the upcoming Council meeting includes a recommendation from the City Manager to remove Arthur Plourde from his Commission post for “advocating a personal agenda while representing himself as a City Commissioner.” No further details are provided in the agenda material.

There are always two sides of a story, but Plourde, for his part, believes the City is railroading him out of a Commission appointment due to his desire to keep his “oath of office” requiring him to uphold the Constitution of California.

That Constitution establishes English as the official language of the state. In what Plourde views as a violation of this constitutional provision, he claims the library is “constantly accommodating … requests for books in home languages of immigrants who are supposed to be here as Americans not as travelers.” As evidence of this, Plourde noted that the library right now has “requests for books in Farsi.”

Plourde further went on to say that, “much could be saved in taxpayers money if the Library was not so accommodating … to people who live and work here and refuse to learn ENGLISH. He also queried, “Why should Taxpayers have to put up with this? Even the Torrance Transit has signs on board their buses in Spanish and that is not necessary either.”

It is for pushing this concern with the City Librarian that Plourde believes he is now being labeled a troublemaker and removed from his position. When asked about this situation, the City Librarian declined to comment.

Plourde was appointed by the City Council to the Library Commission only a few short months ago on January 27, 2015. Plourde, now retired from Boeing, is a well-recognized face within local Republican groups as he has volunteered on the campaigns of several local republican candidates and been active in the Tea Party movement.

The Torrance municipal code does allow the City Council to remove commission appointees by a majority vote of the Council. Absent further information from the City, however, Plourde’s plight does present an interesting dilemma. It is clearly within the Council’s right to remove Plourde, but should they? What type of precedent will removing Plourde set for current and future appointees? At what point does expressing your firmly held beliefs, no matter how someone on the Council might disagree, rise to the level of unduly advocating a “personal agenda” thereby necessitating removal?

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Art Plourde was honored this past fall by the American Red Cross for doanting blood 500 times and because of his special blood type saving thousands of life. How many times as Mr. Jackson donated blood? I too emigrated to the USA and didn’t speak a word of English. There were no books in German at the local library (Bruggemeir Lib. in Monterey Park) and I hunkered down and learned this new language. There is no doubt in my mind that the success I have had in my life is because I learned English. If you don’t want to learn English and the customs and systems of laws of your new country then why even come? I still root for the German Natl. Soccer team against all opponents and I will be rooting for the German ladies in this year’s Women’s World Cup. But I don’t expect people to speak German to me or have voter information, DMV books etc. printed in German. I am alarmed that Art’s first amendment rights are threatened by the city manager. Would Art be in trouble if he wanted more copies of the Communist Manifesto, Mao’s red book etc. available in our libraries? Art is a military veteran and as scu he certainly has earned the right to speak up. This is truly shameful. The city manager has been on the job too long and it is time to retire him and not Mr. Plourde. This is all about Art’s conservative politics. If politics is going to be the qualifying standards then how are we different from Cuba?

No place for an old racist on our commissions. I don’t care how many failed tea party campaigns he has worked on. Doesn’t change that he is the only commissioner in the city that staff wants to see gone. You gotta be a special kind of dick to get removed from a commission. Maybe that leave a space for you Clint! I think you can beat Art’s record of three months….

I have said many times and firmly believe we have immigrants who come to this country who want what we have, freedom and opportunity but do not want to be who we are. They do not want to be American. We have allowed and accommodated this so with signs everywhere in their language rather than directing them to learn english. Is it any wonder others are following suit?

Greetings and Hello Eddie:(
It is most sad indeed that we find ourselves in these kind of times when nothing matters any more!! Not the Constitution of our land, not the TRUTH, not consequences for actions, not respect, not honor or integrity, as well as ethics. Guess what not even City Government honors the rights of “WE THE PEOPLE”, no they have no foundation what ever and still go ahead with a hatchet job on me as they did. Now I am wondering if you would like to join me in a Class Action Law Suit against the State of CA and all muicipalities, city, county and state Governments for violation of their Oath of Office as well as the State of CA Constitution which every single civil servant in a seat of Government has to take. I think we need to stand for Principles and Values first before allowing those who are here and refuse to adopt this nation as their new country or support it by learning the language and respecting it and the customs of this free nation to dictate to us Americans what is going to be. No never will I accept such trrannical action. I am not loolking for an attorney to represent me in an action against the city of Torrance and it’s City Government Officials as well as the class suit I mentioned. I hope to finally make an issue of all this desparaging things we are witnessing and experiencing in society here today. I would appreciate having you join me in this effort. It is time to take a stand for America First!!

Editing your original post without noting you have made an edit is not the norm. Your post was sent via email to everyone who subscribed to your blog. If you want to change something that is ambiguous, it is considered best form to explain what you are doing, not just quietly do it. Maybe you need to find someone who will edit your copy before you send it out.

Mr. Garvey, thank you for reading my blog and paying such close attention. I welcome the feedback. I thought the edit was minor and did not warrant a notification to the readers of the change. That you felt otherwise gives me something to think about in future postings. While I do see the value in undertaking a more rigorous editing process, I hope you can also appreciate how much additional time that would take. The writing process alone already takes up a significant amount of my time and energy and I hope you will forgive me I if do not commit to a more extensive review process at this time. That said, as I’ve commented before, accuracy of information is of the utmost importance to me and I do exercise great care to ensure my posts are factually based.

The more questions I ask about this issue, the more questions I end up having. This is getting very disturbing. The gist of what I am hearing? People asked Arthur to be removed because they simply did not like him. This is city government, not middle school, people! I even agreed with the Mayor and Tim Goodrich that the library buying non-English materials was a non-essential concern, and not in violation of the CA Constitution. Yet that is no reason to have him removed.

” You gotta be a special kind of dick to get removed from a city commission “? Coming from Jr. after all of the repugnant and stupid things he’s posted here and elsewhere, the bar seems to be set very low. It doesn’t speak well of the city to have a loose cannon like this representing it.

I wish Jr would use some proper language instead of his favorite “d” word. Or maybe he needs to finish up his education and realize there are more appropriate words in the dictionary. Grow up this is not junior high anymore.